Cypress Wells Canyon hike, 2014/11/09
Thirteen photos from an autumn hike through Cypress Wells Canyon, passing an abandoned village and Great Wall on the way to the end.
Our hike to Cypress Wells Canyon follows easy trails through a forested valley and up to a pass before descending through a scenic canyon.
We started off walking through a canyon, where we saw interesting rock formations and peaks that rose above the valley.
Coming out of the other end of the canyon we walked into an abandoned village, empty of people for a long time now. We stopped for a lunch break in the village and had a little look around the old houses and fields, half expecting the previous residents to show up!
After lunch we headed on, following a dirt trail through a pine forest, eventually arriving at a pass topped by a line of very old Great Wall. The wall here is in no condition to hike on top, so we just ventured a short way up to take a look at a tower that was added on during the Ming Dynasty.
We then hiked back through the forest to find the narrow trail that would take us to the end of the hike. We walked out through a rocky and very scenic cleft in the cliffs – quite steep in some places, and slippery where it wasn't steep.
As we got down lower the trail began to open up, and we made our way out to the nearest road to find our bus.